[RDinNHandAZ]

There will soon be great electric tractors!
In Gila Bend AZ there are (or were last time I checked) 23 permitted solar producing projects averaging 280 MW each. About 30 miles away is the largest nuclear plant in the US, Palo Verde Nuclear Plant. It produces 3,942 MW That means those solar plants can produce about 2 times as much power when all are on line. The largest purely Coal plant is Robert W. Scherer in Georgia and produces 3,520 MW. Many of the solar plants in this one town are Solar Thermal plants and can store heat to produce energy round the clock. Nuclear plants have a 90% duty cycle and coal plants 50% or so. The Sun shines 360 days a year in Gila Bend. The fuel (sunshine) is free. Power companies like big reliable projects. You may doubt the inevitability of solar energy but the investors don’t.
Some are saying it won’t work in less desirable places.
I visited my daughter today. Her neighbor came by to show us his new Hyundai Iconic 5 electric car built in the USA. 303 mile range, recharges to 80% in 18 minutes from a fast charger and he charges it at his home with the solar system he installed 5 years ago. He claimed the solar was paid for with his electricity already as he gets quartly payments and no electric bill for 5 years. The car is a bit over $40K whitch is under the average price of new cars this year. He will get $7K in rebates on the car and got $5K when the solar was installed but even without that his car is reasonably priced and the solar would only need three more years to pay for itself. And if you think this fellow is in a sunny place he isn’t. He lives near Portsmouth NH!
I know these are just two examples of the cost of solar and EV but they seem compelling. I don’t think the future is grim we can embrace it.

 

[tm10058196]

Where I used to work we had two huge diesel generators, rated at 1 MW each. Kind of mind blowing to think of a solar field putting out 280 times the power of one of those sets. But the solar output is maxed at maybe 5 hours a day on a perfect day while a base load plant is 24/7/365 potentially. If we could just eliminate China's growing impact the world could relax a bit.

 

[Hipster]

Ford is apparently starting to provide kits to convert gasoline vehicle to electric
CBS Video on Ford Electric Conversion kits

Toro has replaced the 8HP gas engine on it's basic 2 stage snowblower about one year ago.
Still has belts and a friction disk.
For my needs I am going that direction.

So if a 8HP horizontal electric motor has been created......a vertical one (more HP tho) must out there lurking for a swap?

 

[PA318Guy]

There will soon be great electric tractors!
In Gila Bend AZ there are (or were last time I checked) 23 permitted solar producing projects averaging 280 MW each. About 30 miles away is the largest nuclear plant in the US, Palo Verde Nuclear Plant. It produces 3,942 MW That means those solar plants can produce about 2 times as much power when all are on line. The largest purely Coal plant is Robert W. Scherer in Georgia and produces 3,520 MW. Many of the solar plants in this one town are Solar Thermal plants and can store heat to produce energy round the clock. Nuclear plants have a 90% duty cycle and coal plants 50% or so. The Sun shines 360 days a year in Gila Bend. The fuel (sunshine) is free. Power companies like big reliable projects. You may doubt the inevitability of solar energy but the investors don’t.
Some are saying it won’t work in less desirable places.

Yes and when they break down they can just move them to Barry M. Goldwater Range Complex for Air Force target practice!!

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

Where I used to work we had two huge diesel generators, rated at 1 MW each. Kind of mind blowing to think of a solar field putting out 280 times the power of one of those sets. But the solar output is maxed at maybe 5 hours a day on a perfect day while a base load plant is 24/7/365 potentially. CUT...

You may have failed to notice that particular coal plant's 50% duty. If so they average only 12 hours a day. Most hydro plants like Grand Coulee only do 35%. Yes a photo voltaic plant at its worst in the SW will be less than your generator but even that goes down for service like the nuclear plants. The solar thermal plants take in sunlight for~ 5 hours but produce power much more.
I guess my point is all sources have their favorabilities and shortcomings, and to point out that solar is not a dinky hobby power source. I’d just like us to keep an open mind about electric tractors, electric cars, electric tools and solar’s ability to provide the juice.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

Yes and when they break down they can just move them to Barry M. Goldwater Range Complex for Air Force target practice!!

I’d be really upset if BMGR began using electric tractors for target practice! LOL. Actually they have lots of targets that look like planes, tanks, Afghan villages, etc. They don’t often or maybe ever strafe those targets with live rounds as a LASER receiver records the hits. Even bombing is done with mini-bombs on a specially designated hill that they only hit after all the endangered Pronghorn are away from it. Training is high tech and quite responsible. I’ve camped and hiked on a lot of the BMGR East range and in the far West nearer Yuma. It’s the premier training climate due to the clear weather I mentioned earlier.

 

[PA318Guy]

I used to be the Program Manager on GBAAF and BMGR's when Spectrum Science and Software were the Prime Contractor there. I lived in Gila Bend for about 15 months until they decided to sell the contract. That was when Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter was there.

 

[oldfart50]

Ford is apparently starting to provide kits to convert gasoline vehicle to electric
CBS Video on Ford Electric Conversion kits

like the on comment ~
I notice that they did not mention: 1 - the price of the Engine 2 - the cost of the Conversion. 3 - the price of the Batteries 4 - the mileage of the batteries 5 - the sheer weight of the whole setup when the batteries are added.

 

[Ariens93GT20]

There will soon be great electric tractors!
In Gila Bend AZ there are (or were last time I checked) 23 permitted solar producing projects averaging 280 MW each. About 30 miles away is the largest nuclear plant in the US, Palo Verde Nuclear Plant. It produces 3,942 MW That means those solar plants can produce about 2 times as much power when all are on line. The largest purely Coal plant is Robert W. Scherer in Georgia and produces 3,520 MW. Many of the solar plants in this one town are Solar Thermal plants and can store heat to produce energy round the clock. Nuclear plants have a 90% duty cycle and coal plants 50% or so. The Sun shines 360 days a year in Gila Bend. The fuel (sunshine) is free. Power companies like big reliable projects. You may doubt the inevitability of solar energy but the investors don’t.
Some are saying it won’t work in less desirable places.
I visited my daughter today. Her neighbor came by to show us his new Hyundai Iconic 5 electric car built in the USA. 303 mile range, recharges to 80% in 18 minutes from a fast charger and he charges it at his home with the solar system he installed 5 years ago. He claimed the solar was paid for with his electricity already as he gets quartly payments and no electric bill for 5 years. The car is a bit over $40K whitch is under the average price of new cars this year. He will get $7K in rebates on the car and got $5K when the solar was installed but even without that his car is reasonably priced and the solar would only need three more years to pay for itself. And if you think this fellow is in a sunny place he isn’t. He lives near Portsmouth NH!
I know these are just two examples of the cost of solar and EV but they seem compelling. I don’t think the future is grim we can embrace it.

Guess not if you can afford it.

 

[Ariens93GT20]

like the on comment ~
I notice that they did not mention: 1 - the price of the Engine 2 - the cost of the Conversion. 3 - the price of the Batteries 4 - the mileage of the batteries 5 - the sheer weight of the whole setup when the batteries are added.

Last time they were available the 300hp motor was $3000 and weighs in at a whole 65lbs. Battery prices keep going up and up. I do not expect that trend to stop any time soon. I have known idea what the controllers would cost. What I have read to date most companies that do these conversions are using salvage parts.

 

[win38mag]

I want a solar propulsion Jetson mobile.

Back in the 70's . a couple of WW2 airplane mechanic's here in town ,got a 3 1/2 horsepower Brigg's and Stratton lawn mower engine running on water. Same concept as that old IHC deseil that started on gas , got hot ,and swiched over to oil. It was pretty cool to watch it run,, started on gas , heated up the cracker , slowly eased it over to H gas , and O2....weened it off the gas and onto the H2O , and watched the water vapor come out of the exhauset and cycle back thru the cracker .
....longest run time was 13 hours -- then we had to open the gas station again for the day !-- then corporate showed up ....really interested in it ....wrote a big check and took it away !! never saw ,heard , or found any mention of it since. !!! almost 5 decades now !!!

 

[Mark in Portugal]

Solar PV panels are now so cheap that they actually make financial sense for individuals (if you have space), if you live in a sunny area at least.
Batteries remain problematic.

I'd really enjoy building a battery powered tractor; but it would not make any economic sense, or probably any ecological sense either.
I'd find a crashed Nissan Leaf or similar (NOT Tesla, that's for sure) and use the parts.
Even then, to be practical the machine would need a certain number of hours per year of use, which I just don't have.
And of course if your usage is too high then the battery / charging cycles won't work for you either.

If you have a big battery in a car or tractor, solar PV starts to become quite attractive.
It would be quiet, not stinky and smoky like my old diesel beast.

 

[Ariens93GT20]

Big batteries appear to be the key. But the bigger the battery the larger the cost.
Last big farming outfit I worked for in the spring tractors ran 24/7 for two months straight. Except for fueling, cleaning air filter or an oil change.
It is not like a big truck were they run so many hours and are parked for hours.
I know there are ev zrt's but what is the cost and weight difference. If they made since the commercial guys will have them first.

 

[Mark in Portugal]

Current battery technology can't store enough current for big industrial users like commercial tractors, long range trucking, or sea going ships.
Maybe some day...

 

[Alien5044]

Man, anyone tinkering with crashed EVs or any damaged batteries need to be aware of the risks of runaway reactions especially on Lithium film types. Controllers are extremely important to prevent instability from developing due to under or over charging. Also Li and H20 do not get along at all, it is very reactive with H2O . It is commonly kept in oil to prevent moisture in the air from causing violent reactions. Before tinkering, even with small AAA Li batteries, know what you are doing.

 

[Dave55]

I just ran into an article about WVa power production. 93% of our power comes from coal or natural gas.
The picture of my local power plant above, only burned 5 million tons of coal last year. 2052 megawatt hour generation capacity, currently running at 95% capacity. On the generation side of things only, 1 kilowatt of power generation releases about 9,000 to 11,000 BTU's of heat. That is not counting what is generated in transmission or using that electricity. 2,052,000 Kilowatts every hour times 10,000 BTU = 20,520,000,000 BTU's every hour of the day. That amount of heat surely has nothing to do with any global warming effect.

Take a good look under the hood at green energy, it is not all it is made out to be.

 

[Alien5044]

I have concerns that EVs are being envisioned for all types of mobility. They certainly have their place as noted in many other posts but are simply impractical for many types of mobility.

It is a bit like saying as fasteners, nails are simple, easily manufactured and work extremely well in rough carpentry. Therefore, in all fastening scenarios we must scrap all nuts, bolts, washers and screws since they are much more complicated to produce and use than nails. You must now plan on using nails for all fastening applications.

The other concern is the accelerating problem of disposal of hundreds of thousands and eventually millions of EV batteries in the coming decade as they reach the end of useful lives. 7,000 to 8,000 Li cells in each battery is a lot of reactive Li waste that has to be handled with extreme care. Lithium is highly reactive, and usually stored in oil to keep it from contacting moisture in the air and starting a violent reaction. This is going to turn out to be one very expensive disposal process.

 

[Busted Tractor]

All ready done!
Elec-Trak - Wikipedia

Batteries Not Included: 1970s GE Elec-Trak E12 | Barn Finds

 

[Dave55]

What I see right now is everyone looking at 1 step in a process that involves thousands of steps.
You can't just look at one step, you have to consider all of them.
That is why I say all this battery/electric stuff is just moving the pollution to a different location.
Every time you take energy and take it from one form to another, heat is a byproduct of that process.
Burning fossil fuel as in gasoline, diesel, natural gas or coal produces CO2 and heat along with usually some mechanical energy..
CO2 becomes the extra blanket that keeps the heat in the atmosphere, the heat is raising the temp.
However, green plants need CO2 to live, and enough plants could reduce that considerably, but you are still left with the heat.
So now you have released the heat that generates steam, that turns the turbine that generates electricity.
So fossil fuel turned to thermal energy, that turned to mechanical energy that turned to electrical energy which generated heat three times to become electricity. That electricity is then run though a transformer, across wires and then through a couple more transformers before it is delivered to the end user. All those wires and transformers also generate heat. Then you use the electrical energy to produce mechanical energy or produce heat, again each step is producing heat as a byproduct. And let's not forget, all that steam at the power plant has to be cooled back to water releasing even more heat.

We have not even touched mining the materials, processing the materials, transporting the materials or the manufacturing required to make the materials usable as a product, then transporting that product to the end user.

Electric vehicles are one step in a 150,000 step process, you have to look at all the other 149,999 steps involved.
But that is not what we are doing.

Getting way back to the original post, "why can't a manufacturer make an electric conversion for a gas powered mower?"
My original answer was 'why would you want to do that?"
If you seriously consider everything involved starting with mining materials to delivery to the end user, there is no way that would make any ecological sense at all.
The mower was already produced and delivered to the end user, dump gas in and go mow.
That running that mower will not produce as much pollution in stock form as it will produce trashing the stock motor, gas tank and other related parts and then replacing them with new parts that have to start at step 1, mining materials and go through the entire mining, refining, manufacturing, transportation process again to only have something that needs to be recharged from the overloaded electric grid to even work.
That mower is a 4x6 inch picture out of a mural as big as the world.
You have to look at the entire mural, not just that snapshot of a tiny portion of it.

 

[MiniHomesteader]

That’s what they push with all of the EVs… just the snapshot.